The Foreign Service Journal, November 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2013 65 the National Advisory Committees of the Middle East Policy Center and the Alfred Friendly Foundation. Mr. Nalle’s wife of two years, Jane Oliver Nalle, died in 1952. Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Margaret Shumaker Nalle of Washing- ton, D.C.; two children from his second marriage, David F. Nalle of Austin and Susan T. Nalle of Hoboken, N.J.; a sister; and two granddaughters. n Edwin J. Neumann , 90, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Sept. 5 at his home in Bethesda, Md., of conges- tive heart failure. Edwin Julius Neumann was a native of Clinton, Iowa, and a 1944 graduate of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. He received a master’s degree in 1947 and doctorate in 1951, both in American literature, from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Mr. Neumann was English depart- ment chairman at the American Uni- versity of Beirut before joining the State Department as a cultural attaché in 1956. His assignments included Bombay (now Mumbai); Linz and Vienna; Kano, Nigeria; and West Berlin. He left the Foreign Service in 1972, and worked for the Office of Higher Education at what became the Depart- ment of Education. There he helped decide on funding for grants affecting innovative programs for higher educa- tion, retiring in 1990. For the past 15 years, Mr. Neumann volunteered with Learning Ally, a non- profit group that supports students with disabilities. Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Mary Mackey Neumann of Bethesda; two sons, Paul Neumann of Denver, Colo., and Chris Neumann of Richmond, Ky.; and five grandchildren. n Margaret Jones Palmer , 96, a for- mer Foreign Service specialist and wife of the late Ambassador Joseph Palmer II, died at her home Bethesda, Md., on Aug. 23 surrounded by her family. A native of Savannah, Ga., Margaret McCamy Jones was born on Oct. 4, 1916. She attended the University of Georgia and accepted a scholarship to study in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1937. Arriving just prior to the beginning of World War II, she became fluent in German and took a motorcycle tour of Europe. When hostilities began, she left her studies to assist the U.S. consulate in Hamburg with refugee applications. While in Germany, she joined the For- eign Service and later accepted a posi- tion in Mexico City as a consular clerk. Soon after taking up the Mexico City posting, she met FSO Joseph Palmer II of Boston, Mass. She resigned from the Foreign Service to marry Mr. Palmer, as was the requirement at that time, and the couple wed in Savannah, Ga., in 1941. They then set out for his assignment in Nairobi. Later overseas assignments included London; Harare (then Salis- bury, Southern Rhodesia); Lagos, where Mr. Palmer served as ambassador; and Tripoli, where Mr. Palmer also served as ambassador. While raising a family, Mrs. Palmer befriended and guided American expatriates, and built lasting friend- ships in each host country. Her support was instrumental within the American community during the drawdown and eventual closure of Embassy Tripoli fol- lowing the Libyan coup of 1969. After Mr. Palmer’s death in 1994, after 53 years of marriage, Mrs. Palmer remained active. She contacted the University of Georgia and completed the requirements for her bachelor’s degree in 1995 at age 79. She also traveled widely and maintained a retirement home in Tybee Island, Ga. She was a volunteer with Meals on Wheels, and was a member of DACOR and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Rock Creek. Mrs. Palmer is survived by three chil- dren, Joseph W. (and his wife, Sharon) Palmer of Tybee Island, Ga.; Heather P. (and her husband, Jafar) Jafari of Gaith- ersburg, Md.; Thomas J. (Joan) Palmer of Kensington, Md.; eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Her grand- son, Jamal Jafari, is an FSO currently in training for an onward assignment to Dar es Salaam. n